Former Chief of Air Staff and one of the PDP governorship aspirants in Kogi State, Air Marshal Isaac Alfa recently spoke with Abuja Deputy Bureau Chief, Madu Onuorah. Excerpts:HOW is the transition from a regimented life to the hurly burly of politics'The military is a much regimented and restricted organisation. So, it was not possible, despite the success I had in the military, to serve my people as I would have liked. This is why I am using my experience and capability to help my people. So, when they invited me to come and represent them, I accepted. And when the people want you, you don't need to spend much to get genuine followership. They trust my capability. They are convinced that I was coming to serve, to emancipate and not to enrich myself, or to trade with their resources.But despite the support of your people you have not yet won the governorship race after four times attempts.The fact that I keep contesting shows my genuine desire to appreciate God's blessings upon me by giving back to the people. Despite the expenditure involved, my various sponsorship schemes, I have not diminished in any way. There are hardly any elected officials from Kogi East today, past and present who have not benefitted from my assistance one way or the other. And this included the governor.I have refused to dabble into dirty politics. I have the capability and capacity to seize victory if I had wanted, but I am way beyond that. I have always valued my position and was not ready to trade my integrity for any position. Those who have nothing to offer have always rigged their ways into power to satisfy their primitive acquisitive tendencies. I have never lost an election; I have always been rigged out. It is instructive that those who rigged always come back for support. They always come back to ask for my support in mobilising the people for them.Despite being rigged out as you claimed, why have you remained in the PDP'It is not really a question of which party. I agree that some have left one party to another and succeeded. My position is that it depends on what one wants really. The truth is that in most of parties today, what goes on behind the scene is beyond what the eyes see. People don't really care which party governs them. The tragedy of it all is that most of those who suffer for the parties are not the people befitting. Those who genuinely want to serve the people are not the ones succeeding because they are not ready to soil their reputation.So what finally informed your show of protest when you chose to boycott the PDP gubernatorial primary for Kogi'It was clear that the governorship primary was not going to be free and fair. From what we saw on the ground, the primary was already pre-rigged. In a situation where ad-hoc delegates that constitute 75 per cent of the delegates were preselected to favour the governor's candidate, there was no chance for anyone else. Members from the various councils were used to compile names of those who must do the governor's bidding. In my council for example, there was no election of ad-hoc delegates. Those instructed simply hid themselves and compiled names. The ad-hoc delegates were marshaled together and taken to Lokoja and all aspirants were denied access to them. They were heavily paid. It was a shame. I had no intention of taking part in an election whose outcome was preset. I am glad I did what I did. I saved my name and my action gave the other aspirants courage to follow the path of honour. We are vindicated, given the controversy that trailed the primary.As an insider in the workings of the party and government of Kogi, how do you see the emergence of Captain Idris Wada as the PDP governorship candidate and Jibrin Isah Echocho still clinging to same mandate'I am not an insider; I am not even near the door. I am not of them. They play very dirty politics in Kogi. Only Governor Ibrahim Idris knows what is really going on. First he assembled us together in Anyigbe and instructed that the whole of Kogi East should vote for Echocho. He then unilaterally selected the deputy. That was why most of the aspirants withdrew for Echocho; he was candidate for Idris. Surprising, the Governor made a volte-face about four weeks ago and dumped Echocho for Wada. Only the governor can explain his action despite the speculations surrounding the motive. I have no problems with the governor supporting a particular candidate, but people expect decency and fairness in doing so.What do you make of the speculations around Wada regarding his membership of PDP'I don't have the facts. But if there was any such thing I doubt if the Wada I know will knowingly be involved. In this dirty game of politics, those who want victory at all cost can go to any length to do anything. And there is no way of ascertaining if the said forgery was not the handwork of his enemies. However, if the forgery is true, then it is great tragedy because even if Wada wins, the opposition can use that to cause trouble. I hope that the allegation is false.The race initially was between Echocho and Wada, what happened'The governor supported Echocho initially before transferring that support to Wada. Whatever the reason, it is tough for the young man as he must have spent a fortune believing that his support base is solid especially as is believed that one of the governor's sons was a strong backer. With Wada getting the support, I believe that if he wins, he might bring the state out of its comatose condition, which it had been in for the past eight years. I have not known him to active in politics, but being the governor's candidate may mean something.What are your expectations from the governorship election'The first thing is that this election is going to be closely monitored. Prof Attahiru Jega is determined to prove a point. The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and its governorship candidate Audu Abubakar are not going to leave any stone unturned. If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) wins its case, Echocho will retain the mandate. If INEC loses, and Echocho wins his case, he will still retain his mandate and become PDP's candidate. The problem here is that the governor will work against Echocho for self-preservation.Secondly, those who hope to gain from Wada's governorship will work against Echocho and I am not sure, if two months is enough for genuine reconciliation. Those aspirants who were rigged out are still aggrieved and can influence the voters.Wada's albatross may be the governor as he will be seen as the governor's imposition and those who are wary of continuing the governor's legacy may work for the opposition. The fact that the governor is now considered a lame duck severely diminishes the fear of him as people feel that he has nothing more to offer. The truth is that the governor has put us in a quagmire and the party headquarters is much guilty of vacillation.I weep for Kogi; the state deserves better governance under any platform. The PDP will have a herculean task to repair the damage done to its image in the last eight years especially in places like Ankpa where the people are looking for an opportunity to pay Idris back for his vendetta against them.Comment on your recent award of Distinguished Flying Star (DFS)I feel highly honoured and accomplished. I was earlier inducted into the American Air University International Roll of Honour before the President and Commander in Chief conferred me with this most prestigious honour. It is the height of recognition and achievement. As a military pilot, the award is given to those who have distinguished themselves in combat, contributed to the advancement and enhancement of Air power in the Service, and who have demonstrated courage and airmanship in the face of danger. You don't get it by luck or accident. Such recognition encourages one to offer more and drives those still in the Service to aim for greater heights.
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